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Auction: 21002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 488

A very rare Soviet Order of the Red Banner for the Manchurian offensive awarded to Lieutenant V. A. Zybin, a Sapper Platoon Leader of the 63rd Independent Sapper Battalion, 39th Rifle Corps, 25th Army for defusing a large number of anti-tank mines, fougasses, anti-personnel mines and booby traps during an engineer reconnaissance mission in the city of Sanchagou which involved the clearing of a school for young suicide bombers

Russia, U.S.S.R., Order of the Red Banner, Type 3, Variation 2, reverse officially numbered '237997', reverse sometime gilt, some enamel repair and chipping, nearly very fine

Viktor Aleksandrovich Zybin was born in Grozny, Chechnya in 1921, drafted by the Military Commissariat of the Krasnogvardia Raion in the Leningrad region he joined the Red Army in November 1940, and was a member of the Komsomal from 1941 onwards.

Little is known of Zybin's wartime service as this according to his record card is his only award, won as a Sapper Platoon Leader in the 63rd Independent Sapper Battalion, 39th Rifle Corps. He was still a resident of Leningrad at the time of the award in the February 1946, the citation stating:

'During the fighting for the city of Duinin, sapper platoon leader Lieutenant Zybin carried out an engineer reconnaissance mission in the direction of the cities of Duinin and Sanchagou under heavy enemy rifle and machine gun fire. He was one of the first to burst into the city of Duinin, killing two enemy soldiers. During the reconnaissance mission he personally retrieved and defused 80 anti-tank mines and 5 fougasses. This enabled the quick advance of the reconnaissance tanks of the 2nd Tank Battalion. In a school for young suicide bombers in the city of Sanchagou, 10 anti-tank mines, 15 anti-personnel mines and 20 booby traps - which had been left in the school building - were defused. During the fighting, the men of the platoons served well under Lieutenant Zybin's leadership. All assigned combat missions were carried out well. Thanks to his rational and skilful leadership the platoon didn't suffer a single loss.'

The recommendation was signed by Lieutenant Colonel Korneyev, 259th Independent Tank Brigade on 23rd August 1945.

Sanchagou is now called Suixi and is a village about 40-50 kilometres west of the Russia-Chinese border in the far east, it would have been on the line of advance of the forces attacking Manchuria from the area to the north of Vladivostok.

The Red Army's Offensive in Manchuria began on the 9 August 1945, as promised 3 months to the day after the cessation of the fighting against Germany, three days after the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and just a matter of hours before the second Atomic Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The two bombings and the destruction of the Kwantung Army in a matter of weeks in Manchuria brought an eventual quick end to the fighting in the far east. The Japanese Military agreeing to a surrender on 15 August, however fighting continued for some time after this as the message failed to reach large numbers of Japanese Troops, and others ignored it, failing to believe the Emperor and his Military Commanders would sign a surrender document; sold together with copied english translation of the citation and research.


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Sold for
£270

Starting price
£160